At the Start of the Day
by Sureleia
Summary: Bree and Rex are on the verge of divorce when Rex offers a possible compromise. Through a series of flashbacks and forwards we see Bree and Rex at the start of their marriage and the post heart attack divide.


Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. The characters and scenes on which this story is based belong to many people including, Marcia Cross, Steven Culp. Shawn Pyfrom, Marc Cherry, ABC, etc.

Timeframe: The story's main thread (the present) takes place supposing that Bree and Rex have continued with their divorce proceedings and are only about a week or so away from signing on the dotted line. The "past" is the early part of their marriage and the "recent past" is the first season just past Rex's first heart attack.

_Present_

There are things you come to learn after living with someone for eighteen years. They aren't things that are given straight forward, such as birthday dates or favorite foods. They are more like how he Rex knows what time Bree wakes up, because she wakes up approximately ten minutes every morning before she wakes him up. It was with that knowledge in mind that Rex had set his alarm clock last night. He had wanted to catch her in the morning, perhaps when she was less on guard and talk to her.

When the alarm clock rang, he managed to wake up enough to turn it off. Even being woken up only ten minutes earlier was not an easy thing to adapt to. He managed to fight the urge to fall back asleep, though. It was important that he didn't have to be woken up by his wife, although for how much longer she remained his wife remained to be seen, depending on the time needed for all of the legalities and paperwork to be argued over. He needed to be awake enough to walk up to her bedroom (could he call a place he hadn't slept in or been in for months "his"?) and talk to her. He knew that the coffee wasn't ready yet so he'd have to leave it to himself to be awake and alert.

*******

_Past_

_Wedding Night_

He had waited for this night, for this moment, for so long. It was natural to be nervous, but shouldn't this come naturally, anyway?

He had felt confident in his movements with Bree, before, but this was a follow through to the end. This time, he did not have to stop. In their previous encounters before, he or Bree had always managed to hold off before the point where they couldn't take it any more, where, if there was one more kiss or one more touch between the two of them, that all control would be lost, and that dress wouldn't look so white.

"Rex?" he heard the voice, quietly, even in a room that was all ready so silent, from behind him. He turned around and saw her, red hair contrasted against her pale skin and white lingerie, as lacy and white as her dress had been earlier that day. She looked more than beautiful, which was more than she had been hoping for before coming out of the bathroom. She had fretted over what to wear, how much to come out in, if everything was perfect for him. She wanted to look so perfect for him that she could see the spark in his eye that told her that he thought that it had been worth waiting for this.

And that was the spark that his eyes had when he gazed upon her, it was the spark that was in his smile before he moved in to kiss her.

He placed his hands on her hips, and he had never thought about how small she was until he realized how close his hands were to each other when he held her like that.

****

_Present_

She was surprised to see him in the bedroom for several reasons. She hadn't seen him in the room for months. His heart attack had luckily prevented them from having to deal with the argument of whether he should enter their room. And, even with slightly improved health, he hadn't dared to enter it at all, fearing she'd take out her anger if she saw him in a place where they had shared so many nights, wondering how many of those nights had been accompanied by days with Maisy.

"What are you doing up so early?" Although she really wondered what he was doing in the room so early, or in the room, period.

"I...I need to know something." He said, nervous of the actual words that he was about to have come out of his mouth. "If...if you were to sleep with someone else, like you'd said, would you really be willing to come back."

Bree had no idea what to say to that. Part of her wanted to slap him for suggesting such a thing, and the other part knew that she had been the one to put it forth, goading his worry to ease her own pain. But, she wasn't going to let him off easily.

****

_Recent Past_

_Van de Kamp House, post heart attack_

"Hey," Andrew said as he came into the kitchen, finding his dad in his robe, drinking coffee.

"Morning," Rex said. "Did you have a good time at Brian's last night?"

"Yeah," Andrew replied. "Um, Dad, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Last night...Mom told me that you'd had an affair...but she was just lying right? I mean, she's just upset about the divorce and having to take care of you."

Rex put down his paper, but he couldn't look up at his son.

"Andrew...I," he started, but was interrupted before he could try to find an answer or reason to give.

"You did! She was right!"

"Andrew," he tried to respond, again.

"Is that why you wanted the divorce! Is that why you left? Is that why you tried to buy us into staying with her instead of you, so you could be with some other woman?"

"It wasn't like that, Andrew, I..."

But, before he could finish, Andrew had run off. Rex grabbed his rolled up paper, and walked outside after him, to talk to his son.

As he came out, he saw his son approaching Bree, and he decided to hold off on this confrontation.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm packing up your father's things for when he eventually moves out," Bree said as she carried a box to the shed.

"Here. Let me help you." Andrew said, as he took the box from his mother's hands. They walked into the garage, so it was hard to hear what was going on, but he guessed he'd be on the losing side of it, as he expected he deserved.

It was only a short time, though, before he was able to hear them again as they came out of the shed, and, he could tell that Andrew still did not have a positive view of him.

"...Is it because of what Danielle and I said? Because you can forget that." He saw Bree turn around and wondered if he'd be packing soon. "I'll help you take his stuff on the street if you want." Maybe the packing would be done for him.

"That's sweet, but I'm taking care of him because it's the right thing to do." She walked away, but turned when Andrew started complaining, again.

"Why are you being such a pushover? I mean, he cheated on you. He's a jerk!"

He couldn't argue with is son, but he was surprised by what he heard next.

"Andrew, you will not speak that way about your father in front of me."

"Why the hell not? I mean, for once, I'm actually on your side!"

"Yes, I'm angry with him. I am going to divorce him. I may even marry someone else, but make no mistake about it, your father is, and always will be, the love of my life." And Rex was so startled to hear those words come from here. She still loved him, after this. She had said something that she hadn't said in months, even though she was clearly angry and upset with him.

"He gave me the best eighteen-year marriage that..." she stumbled, unusually, to hold herself in place as she finished her argument, "...I could have ever hoped for. And for that you will respect him."

"Okay," Andrew said, and Rex watched them walk away with their arms around each other's shoulders, wondering how much he'd screwed this up and how much it would take to fix it again.

****

_Present_

She walked up close to him so that she was face to face with him, her eyes almost even with his.

"Okay," she said, "If that's what you want, Rex. Would you like to have another man touching me and kissing me in all of the places that you have before? Would you like to know when it starts and ends? Or would you rather always wonder when it started? When or if it's finished? Would you like to know that there's someone out there who knows what it's like to be with me, and, that when they see you, they smile inside at the idea that they know something that you don't? Would you like to wonder if I compare him to you, if I'm thinking of him when you and I make love? Would you like to have the images running through your head in the middle of the day or in the middle of your sleep of me screaming out with another man on top of me?"

He looked away, trying to not look her in the eye, because he didn't want to see her words repeated there.

"I have the decency to not do that to you, and to our promises and to our vows, Rex." And she opened the door to go downstairs.

****

_Recent Past_  
_Outside Rex's Hospital Room, post heart attack_

When Bree planned dinner parties, she attended to every detail so well that she could practically dictate everything that was going to happen before it did. As she left Rex's hospital room, she thought of how close this had come to being like one of her social soirées. Every word, every move had been choreographed in her head, replayed until it was carried out, and, the result, she had to admit, was absolutely perfect.

She had wanted to hurt him, she wanted him to see his heart being ripped out because that's what it felt like when she had confirmed her husband had cheated on her. To lose everything that he had loved and worked for, his lifestyle, his house, his family, all gone might equal her loss of him, she thought.

He loved her. He still loved her. It was the answer to the question she had never asked but had wanted to so many times.

_Do you remember when you proposed?_

_Everybody knew we were going to have this wonderful life. Why is this happening?_

She had never dared to ask the question, directly, because she feared the answer she didn't want to hear. But, even more than that answer, she had feared what the meaning behind that answer was. In her mind, there were two reasons for an answer of no, for a "No, I don't love you, anymore." Perhaps, he had never been as in love with her as she had been with him, because why would he just toss her off so easily if he had felt that way. Perhaps, he had been as much in love with her as she had been with him once, but he had fallen out of it, become disenchanted by something she had done. And where did that begin? After he'd proposed? After he'd married her? After their first time? Their first child? Their second child? Their umpteenth dinner party? Their which ever year anniversary?

But, no, the news she had so hoped for had come to her as her world fell apart, with Maisy's confirmation that her husband was a man still "very much" in love but spending his time in the bedroom of another woman.

And, so, she would give him what he had wanted. What he'd told her he wanted when he couldn't tell her what he wanted in bed. She had always seen these things, mistrust, infidelity and divorce, as poison on a marriage, but she had to drink it because Rex had taken the first gulp, and she couldn't bear to live with him if he did not want her in return.

****

_Present_

Before she had exited the room, she heard him say it, straight and quick.

"I don't want you to sleep with anyone else."

She turned to see him. He wasn't facing her still. He was in the same position, next to the door, facing straight ahead, his body tight and stiff. She could see that his sentences were coming from him with forcefulness as he gulped before his next sentence.

"I know that I just offered to take you up on it, but it's the last thing I want."

She hadn't made a move or sound since she's stopped leaving the room and turned to see him speak. Other than for a sense of hope and a feeling of her presence, there wasn't any other way that Rex could be sure she was still there. He still hadn't moved his position, still stiff and staring straight forward as possible. The only movement beyond his mouth was the slight shaking of his head every now and then.

"Actually," he gulped even though he'd gulped before he'd said the word, "it's the second to last thing I want, which is why I offered it up because the alternative was that we finish it. We sign the papers, and you date, and the thought of you," he paused, his mouth having become void of moisture at the thought and at the admittance of what he was about to say, "the thought of you being with someone over and over again, forever, kills me, and even though the thought of you sleeping with someone else to get revenge on me, would devastate me, at least I'd have you in the end."

And, now, he knew she had left the room, because he could hear the door close behind her.

****

_Past_

_Van de Kamp House_

"Bree," he said as he moved closer to hear, moving his arms around her, "I, I never said anything to anyone. I swear to God."

"You're a liar," she teased, looking at him with a mischievous smile.

"Who told you this?" he said as he bent his head to nuzzle her neck.

"It doesn't matter," she said as she arched her neck back, giving him better access.

"It does matter because I never said anything," he said it, closer to her ear, the vibrations of his voice and heat of his breath turning her on even more.

She decided to return the favor and moved in closer to his ear, whispering, "Well then how do people know because we both know that I wouldn't say anything."

Her gesture had apparently worked as well as she had planned, because, when she moved away from him to lie on the bed, he followed her with a look of utter desire on his face.

He loomed over her, bracing himself with his hand and knee against the mattress, and said, "Why would I tell people about what we do in bed?" before putting his lips to more effective use on her collar bone

"I don't know Rex. Maybe you were bragging or maybe you just subconsciously wanted to...well, congratulations, you did it. I am officially destroyed," she smiled at his confused expression and drew his face to hers with her hands, giving him a lingering kiss before she placed her hands on her slightly expanded pregnant belly. "You've marked me. Every other man will know that we've made love, and I'm no good to them, now."

"I don't know about that," he said, placing his hand on top of hers, "I'd say you're more perfect than ever, now."

_Present_

He found here where he had expected her to be, in the kitchen getting the coffee ready as she prepared for breakfast. He found that she had all ready placed a cup of coffee on the table for him, preventing the need for him to move by her to get a cup for himself.

A memory of her saying 'I sound like a woman whose husband won't touch her' played in his head.

"Bree..."

"Have another offer, perhaps?" she said, not even looking up at him as she started the fire beneath the frying pot.

"Damn it, Bree!" he was frustrated by the fact that he kept making offers, and she seemed set to stay the course towards divorce, but, then again, she'd been on the opposite side of the battle a few months before.

He vaguely remembered her asking him to come back to their bed and saying she missed him and his brushing her off with an 'I know you do.'

She continued to prepare the breakfast, pretending to be unshaken by his sharp outburst.

"I don't know what to do," his voice was quieter now, much quieter, almost a whisper. "I was just so desperate to try anything, and, I'll do anything. I promise that the cheating has stopped. I'll go through the counseling sessions again, I'll admit that it was my fault..."

She still didn't detract from her cooking.

He looked down at the counter on which he was leaning. He realized that he had one more thing to offer to her, but it was the thing that he was the most reluctant to give because, if he did, it might further push her desire to divorce him. But, she had offered to be willing to try it once, without knowing what it was. Perhaps he had a chance of her being willing to understand.

"…I'll tell you my secret, why I went to Maisy."

And she turned her entire body, shocked that he would offer it.

"Fine, then," she said, in her usual proper voice in time for her to speak.

And it was his turn to be shocked.

"Really? You'd let us call off the lawyers like that?"

"You're act surprised? Weren't you hoping for some type of gesture like that after your earlier offer? This is what I need to come back."

He looked at her, unable to say anything because he didn't know what to say next. Rhe fear that he'd had about her rejection, once she discovered his secret, was coming back to him.

She walked over to him, and placed her hand on the counter, not on his hand, but close to it, and looked down at the floor. "You don't need to tell me, now, but I will ask again, soon, and I need you to tell me. If we're going to work this out, I need to trust you again. And, to trust you again, I need to know that you trust me with your secret."

They stood like that in silence for a minute before Bree turned back to the stove to attend to the eggs.

"I think you should go up and shower and change. Breakfast will be ready when you come back."

***

_Past_

_Wedding Night_

Rex looked at his wife, and, from the outside, she looked to be in the same state as he was, slightly out of breath with a sheen of sweat around her. She had the most lovely, shy smile he could have ever imagined as she placed her hand on the side of his head.

"Well," she started. Her body was still facing his, but she moved her head to look down, another shy movement (an odd little quirk because he knew she was not the shy type), as she breathed something that between a laugh and a sigh. "I guess that I'm yours now."

"No," he said, waiting until she looked up at him, in wonderment of what he could mean by that, before he responded, "I'm the one that belongs to you, now."


End file.
